After a couple of years in the making, we were delighted to formally unveil our water mural this week! A commission from an earlier World Water Day, this large scale, water-themed mural has now been installed – and revealed – on the wall of John’s Kitchen.

As Stephen Leitch (SWE Founder) explains “We are delighted to be here, celebrating the gifting of this water mural to the community of Marlborough – and we hand it over to John’s Kitchen to be its kaitiaki (or guardian) today. We hope this brings enjoyment to John’s Kitchen, it’s visitors and passers-by.”

The mural is made up of four large panels, featuring fifteen images of water in various forms. The entire artwork was painted by local artist,  Gynelle Blake, who is passionate about public art and has worked on other large-scale murals and numerous Chorus boxes around Blenheim. Gynelle says she is “elated” to have it out where the public can enjoy it.

Stephen says “Our intention with this mural was to help beautify our town environment as well as make people reflect on the importance of water to our community – which is a part of our broader community initiative. We want to extend our warmest thanks to Gynelle for the very many hours of blood, sweat and tears she has put into this mural. Her artwork reflects the beauty of the Marlborough environment and the way we as people interact with water in our day-to-day lives. It is truly outstanding and a special gift for the community.”

Yvonne Dasler, Founder and Trustee of Crossroads Marlborough Charitable Trust (the organisation which runs John’s Kitchen) was on hand to witness the unveiling, and said she was “blown away” by the generous gift of the mural. “It links symbolically with what we do, the way everything flows in together…how we care for our land is related to how we care for our people. And it is just a beautiful work of art.”

The mural can be found on the wall of John’s Kitchen (6 Redwood Street – on The Warehouse carpark side). Map link here.

You can also see articles about the mural in

• The Marlborough Express, here: https://www.stuff.co.nz/marlborough-express/marlborough-top-stories/119752299/large-scale-marlborough-mural-a-timely-reminder-that-every-drops-counts
• The Blenheim Sun, here: https://issuu.com/blenheimsun/docs/blenheim_sun_200228/8

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We’re happy to be celebrating World Water Day 2016 with a new community project.

This year water will be taking centre stage on the walls of a currently blank wall in Blenheim. One of the themes of World Water Day 2016 is “water is art” – so this year we wanted to take it literally and beautify Blenheim at the same time.

If you follow our story, you’ll know that each year SWE chooses a community-oriented project to celebrate World Water Day. In 2015 it was “The Great Drain Game” resource which the Marlborough District Council Freshwater Educator uses to teach local children about water use and conservation, and in 2014 it was rainwater harvesting at Springlands School.

For 2016 we’ve chosen a large mural on a water theme in a community space in central Blenheim. As Stephen Leitch (our MD) says “we see this as a chance to beautify our town’s environment as well as make people reflect on the importance of water to our community – which is a part of our broader community initiative. We work, live and play in Marlborough. We want to make it a better place for our staff, our clients and our future generations”

We are currently collaborating with other local community groups to finalise the mural location. We are looking forward to announcing the location and getting started on the mural very soon – watch this space!

We are very pleased to be collaborating with artist Gynelle Blake on this 2016 mural project. Gynelle is passionate about public art and has recently worked on two large-scale murals; one at Bohally Intermediate and one at Springlands School. Gynelle’s style varies from the photo-realistic through to the abstract, but an underlying theme of the natural environment runs through all her work and materials. In 2015 she painted native birds directly onto wooden barrel heads for the Garden Marlborough “Barrel of Fun” fundraiser. Gynelle believes every mural is unique, according to the purpose and the location, and that this water mural will reflect the beauty of the Marlborough environment and the way we as people interact with water in our day-to-day lives.

For New Zealand, and for Marlborough, the value of water for our economy, for our environment, and for our people is of increasing importance and it’s something we are pleased to help bring to the community’s attention. After all, “every drop counts”.

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We’re delighted to announce our 2015 project to celebrate World Water Day is ‘The Great Drain Game’.

We’re sponsoring the development of an interactive resource called “The Great Drain Game” which the Marlborough District Council will use to teach local primary school students and the wider community about how our wastewater and stormwater systems work – as well as reinforce messages around water conservation.

Water is set to become a huge issue for, Marlborough, New Zealand, and the world. The latest report from the UN predicts a 40% water shortfall by 2030. We believe it’s critical we take a proactive approach in regards to the smart use of water, and an awareness of water conservation. What better place to start than with educating the next generation.

The Marlborough District Council’s freshwater educator, Anna Crowe, delivers a stormwater education programme in schools – and this resource will allow the programme to become a very hands-on learning experience. The resource will also be available for use at community events, such as the Amazing Eco-Race and school galas.

The Great Drain Game is the second in our series of World Water Day projects for Southern Water Engineering – with the 2014 project being the rainwater tank at Springlands School.

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Saving water a joint effort for kids and business

‘We can all do our share’ was the message from SWE on World Water Day this year.

More familiar with designing systems pumping thousands of litres per minute than schoolyards, recently our water engineers have been working on a smaller scale, installing rainwater tanks at Springlands School.

The project was part of Springlands School’s commitment to the New Zealand Enviro-schools programme. School principal Gaylene Beattie says “as a ‘Green and Gold’ school the rainwater collection is part of our continual efforts to ‘step up’ and improve our environmental practices”.

Stephen Leitch, Managing Director at SWE, says “Water is the reason we’re here and is vital for the sustainability of our industries in the region…whether it’s in the vineyards or our communities, it makes sense for us to protect it. The Springlands School project was a no-brainer…it has the dual benefit of protecting our water resource for future generations and teaching those same future generations about the value and sustainable use of water.”

He admits that the project has a feel good factor too, with his team getting a kick from working with the school.

World Water Day 2014

The rainwater collection and usage was spearheaded by the school’s GO MAD environmental action team who developed the initial plan, with support from parents and teachers. Southern Water Engineering then donated their expertise to design a system to capture and store rain water for use by the school and also donated the storage tanks themselves.

The new system, which has now been installed, has been designed to meet the existing school needs and to allow for expansion in the future. Rainwater is collected from the classroom roofs and uses gravity to flow into two new storage tanks. The water will then be used by students for the gardens around the school. In future, the system could be extended to provide water for other school uses, including in the nearby bathrooms. For now, students are excited about the next stage – researching options for the tanks’ decoration.

The Springlands School project is part of SWE’s commitment to community involvement. It is the inaugural project in an annual series to promote World Water Day by supporting a community water conservation and sustainability initiative each year.

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